Morning in the Enchanted Forest
by Rosepixie
Summary: A series of very short stories about characters from Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the morning. There is very little plot, but it is safe to assume that the stories all take place on the same morning, so small connections may become evident. I have no current plans to expand any of these, but may continue to add more of them over time.
1. The Prince

It was a beautiful morning, but the Prince was having trouble summoning up the interest to even get up. He had ridden out yesterday to visit the lovely girl in the palace. It hadn't gone well. He had found out that not only was she a princess, but also that she was now dead. He groaned thinking about it. It turns out that he could have married her with his family's blessing, if only he had found her sooner. Now it was too late. Now she was dead. No one would tell him how she died either, only that the Queen had forbidden anyone to speak of it.

He had stayed the night in a nearby inn and now was laying on the straw mattress he had rented staring up at the ceiling. He could hear other travelers having breakfast downstairs, but he didn't feel up to company. Of course, he couldn't stay here all day either.

Pushing himself up, he looked around the room for his boots, cloak, and hat. As he donned his clothing, he decided to go fetch his horse and ride whatever direction the creature wanted to go. They could spend the day wandering while he tried to figure out how to mourn the beauty he had loved and lost. He had never even gotten to really know her.

The Prince couldn't help smiling as he remembered how her ebony-dark hair gently framed her face, how her rose-red lips curled up to smile at him, and how her snow-white skin gleamed with her sweetness. The servant he had spoken to said that was her name, Princess Snow White. What a perfect name for such a perfect princess. Her enchanting voice would echo in his heart until the day he died. No woman would ever compare to her perfection. The memory of her smile would never leave him.

With a heavy heart, he trudged out of the tiny rented room. His horse would be the best company for him now. Perhaps in a few days he would have the courage to return home.


	2. Snow White

Snow White felt the warm sunlight on the outside of her eyelids, heard the sweet singing of the songbirds telling her that it was time to wake up. She had been having lovely dreams for a change. They were about riding through the woods on a beautiful white charger with the prince from the well. Awake, she knew that she would almost certainly never see him again, but she loved the rare appearances that he made in her dreams. It was leaps and bounds more pleasant than her usual nightmares featuring the dark, imposing figure of her stepmother.

The birds were insistent, though, and it was time to get up. Snow White stretched out her body, working out the slight stiffness of sleep, and felt her toes bump against the footboard of her bed. She smiled. The dwarfs had built the bed specially for her and it truly was beautiful, but despite being easily twice the size of any of their small beds, it was just a tiny bit too short for her. She had never told them, though, not wanting them to feel as if they needed to fix it. She was grateful to have a bed at all after her stepmother tried to kill her!

Finally opening her eyes, Snow White climbed out of bed. She gave the birds a sweet smile and set about washing up in the small basin near her bed. She used a simple brush to neaten her hair and slipped into her clothes. She had no mirror to check her appearance, but with no one around except the dwarfs (who always claimed she was lovely as can be), what did it matter? She had more important concerns anyway - like getting breakfast ready!


	3. The Evil Queen

The maid slipped into the room on her tip toes with the breakfast tray. As she moved across the room, she made what seemed to the Queen to be an egregious amount of noise. The dishes on the try clattered, her shoes on the floor clicked, her starched petticoats rasped against one another, even her breathing seemed unnecessarily loud.

And the worst part of it was that she was the best maid that she'd had yet. There was simply no way to make the noise stop. Yelling was no use. It seemed as if the more the Queen yelled, the louder the maids were as they attempted to be silent.

Well, she was awake now and may as well get up. The Queen waited for the maid to set down the tray and clomp out of the room before sitting up in her bed. Setting aside the silken mask that she slept in, the Queen pushed aside the whisper-soft satin coverlet and the heavy velvet curtains that cocooned her bed.

Stretching her arms up over her head, she glided over to the pretty little table where her breakfast waited. She arranged her soft nightgown around her prettily as she sat down to eat.

At least today was certain to be a better day. The brat was gone and without that little princess around making her look bad, everyone had been praising her beauty again. She mused as she nibbled the fruit on her breakfast tray that perhaps it was time for her to visit her mirror again. With her stepdaughter gone and no woman at court able to hold even a candle to her, it was impossible for the mirror to name anyone but her as the fairest in the land.

Yes, it was going to be a very good day indeed.


	4. Grumpy

An absolutely delectable scent set Grumpy's nose twitching. He opened his eyes and inhaled deeply. There were two smells, both familiar and very welcome. The stronger one was the cinnamony scent of porridge made with brown sugar and apples for breakfast!

Grumpy swung his legs over the side of the bed and barely caught himself before he stepped on Dopey. The youngest dwarf was fast asleep on his stomach on the floor next to Grumpy's bed. Dopey had a tendency to roll off of his bed when he slept. They had pushed one side of his bed firmly against the wall, but he still rolled off the other side. Grumpy had drawn the short straw and ended up in the bed next to his, which meant that he often barely escaped stepping on the sleeping dwarf in the morning.

With a scowl, Grumpy carefully avoided Dopey and made his way out of the room. The others were all still asleep, so he could go start breakfast in relative peace. Grumbling about Dopey again, Grumpy headed downstairs.

Snow White was bustling about cleaning up the kitchen area. The second smell that had drawn Grumpy downstairs - baking apple pies - was stronger here and Grumpy breathed deeply to enjoy it.

"Oh!" Snow White exclaimed in surprise. "Good morning, Grumpy!"

"Good morning, Snow White," Grumpy replied with a rare smile. "It smells marvelous."

"Thank you," the girl answered, blushing prettily. "Breakfast will be ready soon, and I made pies for you to take to the mine with you today as well."

"They all smell good."

"Go wash and I'll get you some porridge."

Grumbling about the girl's irritating insistence on washing, Grumpy headed outside.


End file.
